Managing Career Transition

As companies all over the world are trying their best to stay afloat by restructuring and downsizing, employees find themselves in the line of fire. Thus layoffs have become very common, and many are forced to think about transitioning to new jobs. For a majority of them, having to look for a new job can be a frightening experience. It is up to companies to come up with career transition plans that act as a positive force for the employees. But why should a company care about the career of an employee who is going to leave them?

The first and most obvious reason is that it makes business sense. For instance, if an employee leaves you as an enemy, he is sure to carry this image to his new place of employment. And if this person’s new employer is your client, you can be sure that you’ve lost a client forever. Your image in the marketplace is going to be hurting and you also stand to lose potential clients. But on the other hand, an employee who leaves you as a friend rather than an enemy is sure to add value to your business. Companies with a vision for long term growth understand that it is important to maintain a relationship with their past employees, because it is these employees who would lead to new business opportunities.

When employees are laid off, their self confidence takes a beating and they often become disillusioned. As a company, your image is reflected not only through your current employees, but also through your former employees. A disillusioned employee wandering aimlessly certainly hurts your company’s image among your clients and competitors.

Successful companies are those that are value driven, and no company that places importance on values shall ever want an employee to leave the company unassisted and without the resources that are needed for re-employment. These companies help employees with resources to assess their strengths and choose a course that is just right for them.

But the real challenge is in managing the career transition assistance plan. Why is it that some companies manage this better than the others? The answer perhaps lies with the fact that they look at the program as a career management program, and not just as a reemployment program, and hence employ professional career transition management companies. These career management companies do not merely focus on the next job that the individual would find, but rather help him take a fresh look at his career.